This is a great split. The 4-Squares are always awesome, and Toucan Slam were a nice surprise as well. This is the old, original lineup of the 4-Squares with Rob on vocals although Mike and his distinctive voice make a few appearances. A couple songs from this split are on Save the Clock Tower but in my opinion the other 4 are the best of the album. Chris Miss is my favorite 4-Squares song period and one of the finest examples of the type of snotty, fast, loud punk rock that the 4-Squares played.

I had never heard Toucan Slam before this, but now that I have it's easy to see why they released this split together and toured together. They share a similar approach to their music and their songs on here as just as good as the 4-Squares' contributions.

This split showcases the type of quality punk rock that was all over the place in 1997 but that you just won't find too much these days.

The first half of this album is previously unreleased songs / songs from splits, so if you haven't listened to any of Mouth Sewn Shut's 7" output then all these songs should be new to you, except for a re-recorded and slightly changed-up version of World War 3 is Coming. They didn't include Take Responsibility from the Doomsday Hour split though, which is weird. Oh well.

The second half is all re-recorded songs from their first album, Pandemic=Solution, but they're all faster and have (slightly) better recording quality. This is good because the original versions of the songs were way too slow and boring, and the recording quality didn't meet the high standards of crust music. Nah, seriously though, they all sound good.

There's not much ska to be found in the unreleased/split songs and the ska content (skantent?) has been toned down a little bit in the re-recorded songs, so if you just can't live life listening to an album without upstrokes, this may not be for you. It's pretty much their own special brand of furious and chaotic crust from beginning to end. Even if you own the first two albums and all their splits, there's still a few new songs to be found here, so I say pick this album up anyway if you're a fan. It's not totally essential like Doomed Future Today and Pandemic=Solution, but it's Mouth Sewn Shut, so what the hell... 5 stars.

3 Minute Warning are a modern ska band (although sadly broken up now), but don't hold that against them. They play(ed) something closer to the sounds of 1st/2nd wave ska and soul music than the throwaway 3rd wave cheese of most other (lesser) ska punk bands around today. There's enough of a punk edge to mix things up a bit and plenty of that sweet, sweet Hammond B-3 organ sound that you just don't hear enough of these days.

I can't recommend this album highly enough, along with their previous (and sometimes hard to track down) album, Tramp's Jackpot.

Kid Dynamite were awesome. Most of the bands on this tribute are awesome. So it stands to reason that this tribute compilation is mostly awesome. I'd say that sounds about right.

All the covers are, at the very least, competently done. You can tell all the bands legitimately love the song, otherwise why would they be on here? I found that there were some great covers of some of my favorites, some covers I was a little disappointed by, but for the most part they're good. Plus it introduced me to some cool new bands.

If you like KD, go for it, there's a cover of basically every one of their songs on here, there's like 90 tracks or something. I haven't really counted. Give it a listen. Why not?

Do you like Johnny Cash? Do you like Fat Wreck bands and the vocalists from some of those bands and other bands of a similar ilk? If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions or parts of these questions then there is a chance that maybe you will like this. How's that for helpful?

Really though, it is kind of a crapshoot. I would have answered 'yes' to all of those questions and I like most of this album, but not all. Obviously, most of the songs themselves are pretty solid, it's just some of the interpretations that are a little boring or annoying. One of my favorites is the Dresden Dolls' cover though, who I normally don't enjoy, so who knows? Give it a shot, I guess.

I'm going to review this without using the words Oper-... Comm-... the names of his other bands. In fact, I'm going to pretend they don't exist. To steal a phrase: It's who you are and what you do, not who you were or what you have been. Sounds cooler in the song but you get the point.

So this EP is incredible. It's original and invigorating and also a little short. It's like eating one of the greatest appetizers you've ever had but then there's no meal afterward. But what's wrong with that? I, for one, know that I do that shit all the time. Sometimes that's all you want.

Musically, it recalls some of the best bands found in years past on Dischord and SST, and the vocalist sounds like he's a fucking pro at this kind of thing. It's chunky and catchy and sounds like the kind of badass roots punk music you don't hear too much these days. I like the band name too, it's almost like it was a song title from another band or something...

More specifically, it turns out to be the 'Apocalyptic Hardcore Reggae Ska Crust Punk' of MSS.

Their chaotic nuclear crust attack is periodically supplemented by some appropriately crunchy and distorted ska upstrokes, adding a bit of variety and structure to the music that is sorely lacking in a lot of crust these days. Their next release, Doomed Future Today, expands on this idea even further and is in my opinion a slightly more accomplished album although this album is still incredible and has its share of moments, like the original version of "Finally Came Down to Bombs" which I actually prefer to the DFT version and is definitely one of the band's finest cuts.

If you like like your music catchy but extremely bleak and pissed, then check it out.

Do you like music that sounds like you're hearing it in CAPITAL LETTERS?! Do you like fuckin'... Apocalyptic Reggae crust?!?! Do you even know what that is?!? Probably not, because this is the only band that plays it, pretty much. This band really is one-of-a-kind.

Here's a simple test: Does looking at this album's cover art make you want to listen to it? If you answered "no", then- 1) How stupid of you. 2) This album is probably not for you.

Here's something else to put it in perspective for you: the most upbeat, catchy song on the album is about how World War III will happen soon and it won't be long 'til we're all annihilated by nuclear holocaust. Cool, huh?

This album throws even more dirty, grimy ska upstrokes into their noisy but surprisingly accessible crust than the first album and the whole thing is just even better in every way. And I really like the first album. There's a lot more diversity in the songs and the whole package is just punk as fuck. Highly recommended.

Beautiful. The picture disc looks great, the music contained on it is fantastic, they even throw in the (professionally made, complete with disc artwork) CD version for free. You can't beat that.

Side A (or the first 3 tracks) make up the titular O.S.E., the concept portion of the EP, and are all interconnected in this theme. Highly literate, yet far from dull, melodic but just pissed enough. An interesting take on a familiar genre with an excellent and very distinctive vocalist. Side B (track 4) contains just one song, kind of like a dessert after the real meat of the EP, a Tom Waits cover. Tom Waits is cool, Rentokill are cool, this cover is cool. Pretty simple, eh?

They're currently recording a new album, they tour Europe constantly and are coming to the US June/July 2010, so check them out if they come your way. I know it seems too good to be true in this day and age where all good bands are breaking up or being overrun by screamo crunk detritus, but they are the definition of a quality band with their hearts in the right place and no signs of stopping, so show 'em some support.

Excellent band that doesn't get enough recognition. Melodic hardcore with really unique and amazing vocals, and very strong songwriting. They seem to be getting a higher profile these days due to touring with Rise Against and Strike Anywhere across Europe and signing to Union Label Group. All their success is well deserved because they've been going at it for a while now. Check 'em out.